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Subject: Happy Comic Strips For Happy People
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With apologies to Mogwai for the subject line, but I need some vague excuse to say I have the album early on promo and you don’t. Ya-boo!

To Business: the latest HIT’s been on Nextcomics for a couple of weeks, but I’ve only got around to spreading word via this medium now. My sincerest apologies. I hope, somehow, you find it within your heart to forgive me.

http://www.nextcomics.com/comics/template.php?comicnum=23

Response to it so far has been extremely good, which has surprised me. It shows how much in comics an excellent artistic rendering can sell what I considered one of the weakest scripts in the HIT line. Kudos to Herr Dale on his excellent work. Remember: Artists exist to make you look good. Buy them tasty drinks.

Also, congratulations to all of Nextcomics staff, as the site’s been running for two years, hosting all manner of fantastic comics and Supergirlfriend. If you’re heading over there now, have a look at the lead story “After” by Andrew Dabb and Sean Clauretie, which I like a lot. If you want more of Andrew’s scripts, he did a year of three-page shorts for Opi8.com under the name of Slices (http://www.opi8.com/sequence/list.php?dir=slices). Nasty brutal pieces of modern life, cut off, bleeding and brilliant.

I’m no longer Britain’s most egotistical Deputy Editor. I’ve quit to go freelance, so now live in my sumptuous central Bath flat and sit, starring at the phone like that girl from Audition. One day, someone will give me work. Oh yes. This leaves me more time to “do” other stuff.

(Also note that my contact e-mail address is now kieron@gillen7.fsnet.co.uk rather than the one this has come from. Which, in all probability, will be dead by now)

Next comics thing will be the two minicomics I’m making for the Bristol Comics Con (http://comicfestival.co.uk/). One’s a collection of all the HITs so car, provisionally called the HIT parade, with all manner of additional material in the best tradition of comics collections. The other is, if the artist does his stuff, a short I’ve been promising for a while. After Bristol I’ll look into hosting it somewhere or another. Oh yes – and I’ve sold a five page comics script for cash, making me – abstractly – a professional. Just a very small incy-wincy one.

On other notes, current musical obsessions include DMX’s X Gonna Give-it-cha single and Johnny Cash’s pulverising cover of NIN’s “Dirt”.